“Canada targets nuclear smugglers, maintains hard line against Iran”

“Canada targets nuclear smugglers, maintains hard line against Iran”

September 30-October 2, 2009

     Stewart Bell reports on the Canada Border Service Agency’s efforts to prevent the smuggling of potential nuclear and missile technologies to Iran. George Webb, head of the agency’s Counter Proliferation Section, cites Canada’s close proximity and free trade of military goods with the US as one of the main reasons why smugglers are shipping dual-use and military technologies to Iran, North Korea, Syria and China through Canada. Webb estimates that roughly 10% of strategic and dual-use exports are illegitimate and that half of those are organized by state-sponsored procurers working through dummy corporations, adding that arrests are rare because suspects are difficult to track (National Post).

     Writing before last week’s P5+1-Iran talks, Campbell Clark comments that Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has been one of Iran’s “harshest critics.” Houchang Hassan-Yari states that Ottawa is less restricted by diplomatic considerations than Washington and argues that criticism from Canada is a “sign of moral isolation” for Iran (Globe and Mail).

National Post | Globe and Mail

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“A smuggler’s procurement of nuclear dual-use pressure transducers for Iran”